Reconceptualizing Social Vulnerability in Brunswick, Georgia: Critical Physical Geography and the Future of Sea-Level Rise

abstract:Sea-level rise (SLR) is a future concern on Georgia's coastline. SLR research on Georgia's Atlantic coastline often focuses on infrastructure, commerce, and private home ownership. Little geographic research, however, is given to the anticipated effects of SLR on low-income African Americans living in public housing. Brunswick, a small port city, is a "minority majority" city with 56 percent of its population classified as African American and 37 percent as in poverty. Many African Americans, especially those with the lowest incomes, live in flood-prone areas of the coastal city. The city's physical geography exacerbates the threat of SLR with sinking land and rising waters. A critical examination of how environmental injustice, hazards geography, and physical geography intersect is fundamental to addressing Brunswick's vulnerabilities in the next fifty years. Specific attention will be given to Hopkins Homes, which is a public housing unit located by the city's port. Hopkins Homes is one of the most socially vulnerable places in Brunswick but is not factored into the city's response plans. A critical physical geography (CPG) perspective is used as an epistemology for guiding future decisions about SLR vulnerability in Brunswick.